Sep 21, 2010 10:20 AM,

500 million broadband lines overshadow N.A. slowdown

By Dan O'Shea

China's growth is particularly robust; IPTV looks strong in the U.S.

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Despite a recent slowdown in the North American broadband market, the overall global broadband picture continues to look rosy, with research firm Point Topic saying at this week’s Broadband Forum meeting in Hong Kong that the total number of broadband lines in the world surpassed 500 million back in July.

The global adoption figure stood at about 498 million at the end of June, marking a 12% increase in broadband sign-ups between the second quarter of 2009 and the second quarter of 2010. Overall growth for the most recent quarter was about 2.63% over the first quarter 2010 tally of 484 million, and Point Topic figures show that China’s ongoing broadband boom can take top credit for fueling strong global growth.

China had 120 million broadband lines at the end of the second quarter, showing an increase of roughly 20 million from the year before to strengthen its position as the world’s leading broadband market. Every other country in the top 10 showed only slight growth during the same period, though the U.S. hung onto its No. 2 global ranking. Fiber-to-the-home expansion has become a chief driver of North America broadband growth.

In the U.S., the extended housing downturn and the end of housing stimulus program earlier this year were seen as factors in the slowdown, though network construction delays related to the broadband stimulus program may have also played a role, particularly at the Tier 2 and Tier 3 telco levels.

Point Topic also reported that there are now more than 38.5 million IPTV subscribers in the world, reflecting an increase of 2.3 million in the second quarter. There are almost 6.5 million IPTV subscribers in the U.S., putting it in third place behind France and China in terms of total IPTV subscribers at a time when the multi-channel video market in general has been deflating in the U.S. France now has more than 9.4 million subscribers, and even though China is the fastest-growing IPTV market, with 6.5 million customers, Western Europe in general continues to hold onto its traditional IPTV market supremacy for the time being.